If you are one of those people who sit cooped up in an office all winter you are perhaps eager for the summer sun to shine again. The salubrious effect of sunshine on your skin can bring many benefits besides a golden tan, pink cheeks, and the relaxed look. Like many another sun lover, most of us wear too many clothes in the summer and keep our faces pale too far into July and August. Your skin benefits most when you take sun baths in gentle doses. A few minutes the first day on each side of the body is sufficient. Increase the time gradually.
Many a summer vacation has been ruined by first-day overexposure. Blistering sunburn sends the sun bather home in a painful nervous state. You can mark it in your little sun bathing book that more than 90 minutes in the sun means that you have a burn. By all means space your exposures and for safety’s sake keep the daily total less one and one-half hours.
If you want a golden glow, use suntan lotion or oil. These applications filter out some of the dangerous burning ultraviolet light rays. Keep your skin soft and pliant by preserving skin oils and replacing those you must lose. In salt water of the surf can wash away protecting skin oils. They need replacing after a day at the beach or lake. After an evening shower it is pleasant to rub down with a soothing lotion.
Ultraviolet light shining on the skin confers a great health benefit. It is capable of manufacturing vitamin D in the skin-the vitamin that is necessary for normal teeth and bones. Vitamin D plays a role in the metabolism of calcium and phosphorus, which are essential elements of bone and tooth development.
Sun increases the number and efficiency of blood vessels in the skin. The Islands where surf-and sun-bathing is done have a soft velvety-textured skin. This is because their skin has more blood circulating in the than the skin of the average city office worker who lives indoors. The sun produces a layer of pigment along the basal cells of the skin-in essence, the tanning process. These cells protect the skin from too much sun. Sunshine in moderate doses is soothing, softening, and beneficial to the skin. Certain skin diseases such as psoriasis acne and infection are cleared by sunlight. If one of them poses a problem for you, do not hesitate to get into a pair of trunks or a swim suit and give your skin the delightful healing touch of the sun.
On the other hand, excessive daily exposure of the skin to sunshine may produce certain cancer, which often is seen on the face, ears, neck, and hands of farmers, formers, forest rangers, construction workers cowboy’s outdoor workers. If you must be out in the sun all day, wear a hat and even gloves for your hands if possible. Spring time sunshine can be enjoyed with the clothes on. Sitting quietly on a park bench with your face upturned to the sun is an excellent way to relax in May and June. The warmth of the sun brings a relaxed tingle and glow to your body after the winter cold and confinement. As soon as the sun is out, do not waste coffee breaks on a drug store stool but take a stroll in the park or sit on a bench and soak up the healing sun. You will find it relaxing, and as soothing to the nerves as a tranquilizer.
Sun therapy has long been used in the treatment of tuberculosis. The tuberculosis sanatorium attendants push for patients out on the porches to lie in the sunshine. This treatment helps tuberculosis of the bone to heal, and is beneficial to lung patients also. Even in midwinter and with the patient’s breath steaming, the beneficial ultraviolet rays of the sun are captured in the sanatoriums by enclosing the patient in an aluminum cubicle and allowing the sun to reflect on his nude body while the wind and cold are kept from him.
Sunshine exposure on the golf course through a sweater or while the person is walking in the park or down a country road is great fun and wonderful for the health. Let us take off our coats and gradually expose as much of our body as possible to the health-giving sun. Teenage surfers and other “sun worshipers” should avoid overexposure the first few days of summer. Do not spoil your vacation with sunburn the first day out.
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